KACHINA KEN
07-26-2004, 10:08 PM
Well i wanted to do this with pics but I am still not doing it right it seems, anyhow on with the story.
Some of you were up on Thursday night when i was posting 2 hours til I am out of here and so on, well I didn't get any sleep and wound up leaving a little late actually.
So 7 hours later I get to Newport to Lido Dry Stack where I find out you need to be a member which I am presently not:mad:
The guy there sends me to his buddy next door and he doesn't want to deal with it either so by this time I am getting pissed cuz I know the chop is kicking up and I still don't have a mooring lined up.
I find a place off of Jamborree call Becks Bay / The Dunes finally and don't get me wrong it's a nice place but it's a 35 minute putter to the jetties from there plus the good ole trailer had to go for a dunk:mad:
So i launch and I rinse and I putter to the jetties, A guy had given me a bearing of 222 and as I puttered out I tried to get my bearing on my GPS/VHF also.
So i get into the breakwater and get going and all I can really get is around 35 before I am getting to high of air, I estimate these were around 3.5' swells so it was slow goin but at least I was going, its 2pm by this time.
So as I am continually following course 222 I see large vessals and cranes and my stomach sank, I knew something was very wrong here. I stopped and pulled out my chart and sure as shit I was in the middle of San Pedro and Long Beach:eek!: :eek!: WTF:mad:
The nut tard that gave me the course gave me the wrong heading and I was wrong for not double checking before getting underway, so at this point it is 2:30 pm and it's getting rougher and a lil bit of self doubt is creeping into the back of my head, maybe I was a lil cocky going out here all alone with no sea experience other than advice from internet friends and a retired USCG neighbor, I looked back at the shore to Long Beach and then out to the South West and I only had 2 choices, pack it in and follow the coast back to Newport or dig my way out of this hole. I'm former Army, I started diggin'.
I pulled out the chart and oriented by bow with true north and shot an azimuth to the furthest point off San Pedro and did the same with the most direct Eastern point on Long Beach, then I shot a reverse azimuth to Catalina and I came up with 180. And so with NOTHING but blue water and near 4.5' swells looking at me I hit it, now I didnt mention it but this whole time I am wearing my Neoprene PFD with my flare gun and GPS/VHF attached to it, I did feel safe, if i had flipped the boat for some reason I would have been fine I think the only reason I would freak is if it sank and I am just sitting there bobbing in the ocean, I would feel to much like uhhhhh food.
So by now I am getting the SHIT knocked out of me and it's this way slow or fast so I amgoing 20-25 so I can just get this over with, by now I have been on the water for 3 hours and I am only a lil more then slightly confident that I am heading in the correct direction. And then all of the sudden as I look over my right shoulder and see a gigantic jet powered ferry a half mile off starboard a feeling of joy and heartbreak came over me, I was happy that he was on the same course as me, my math had worked and I had bailed my own ass out of the spot that I was in and a lil bummed because instead of showing up just out of blue I would be a follower now.
So at about 4:45pm a very wet and very tired Kachina Ken puttered into Avalon Harbor....
I was greeted by the harbormaster boat and to my surprise he did have a mooring for me W-13 in the outer harbor, i don't know why they call it the outer harbor because it is not really outer, just a lil bit to the side, I actually like it more because descando beach is right there along with kick ass snorkling and an awesome cabana bar.
So I putter over to my mooring, i forgot to tell you they originally gave me W-12 but it had moved to close to this German guys skiff so they moved me over 1 to W-13 I tied up using some techniques that Bob (Nordic Bob over at RRX) had told me, I am somewhat of a rigger myself due to my job description, if you go to a concert you will notice that us lighting folk can suspend a whole flying junkyard over your heads and it manages to stay there somehow, thats because of the rigging we do. Well I thought it would be a good idea to bring some 5/8 galvenized shackles and a couple of 8 foot spansets, I used the shackles so there was no way the knot could come undone no mater what happened but didn't need the spansets. so after all was put away I called the shoreboat on the radio and they came for me.
When i hit the dock it was a 3 minute walk to the catherine hotel, the manager Paul wasn't there and he had left an envelope with a key in it for me since he was out to dinner. I walked up the back of the hotel, took a shower and went to sleep for 13 hours.
Friday morning, time to party? nope , breakfast. Went to the pancake cottage and I was amazed at how fast they got orders out, the place was packed and the only reason i got a seat was because I was on my own still (the girls and Mikey weren't coming in until 5) so after some really good conversation with some locals I figured I should go back to the room and make a few call and check in my other room for my guests, by then it's about noon and Kenny wants a cocktail!
"Go to the Marlin" someone on ***boat said, so i did. It's a locals joint mainly, I talked with the bartender a lil but he was to busy stuffing a big mac down his throat to really talk to much, didn't really understand what Hot Boat meant or was about so I decided to save my breath and kill a couple more pacificos. A couple minutes later this gaggle of girls come in and sit next to me, it's party time for them because they are doing shots and being well, girls. One comes up to me and wants to know if I'm single cuz she has a friend who is newly divorced and really cute etc etc... and i tell yes single, no thanks I'm with someone this weekend and hey if we see ya out tonight lets have a drink. All this is happening while another one is playing pelvic basketball (it's kinda hard to explain).
So around 1;30pm after about 3 errr, 4 Pacificos I taxi back to the Dalmation to check on her from the night before, it's a lil hot so I put on my snorkle mask and fins and go down for a hull inspection, I do have some nasty gouges right on the line that will need to be fixed this winter, i know they gotta be causing serious drag, maybe that is where the missing 2 mph is? I can't get over how clear the water around the moorings is there are small kelp beds and fish all over the place.
3pm better get back and shower up, the girls are coming oh yeah and my buddy Mikey:D .
Get back to the room and shower up and realize my buzz is not what it used to be so I go down to the lobby bar to find Paul tending the bar. 'I thought you were the manager" I am he says, "you gotta tend the bar too?" it's a beautiful life ain't it!
He has an old yes album jammin and he has cooked up some badass ziti that is right on time, I'm tellin ya the beer is 33 degrees there soooo f'in good and cold, I was in heaven.
So it seems there are loads of affluent folk around these parts as evidenced by me not being able to pay for a beer on my own, I've been in here for 30min and had 2 rounds bought for me by these really nice folks, one of them was named Tom, find out later he's like a billionaire or something, could care less , he was a really cool guy who bought me a beer, if thats all I ever knew of him he would still go into the ole memory banks as a cool dude.
So i get the call at around 4:30 that the girls aren't going to make the ferry so they gotta take the next one. Damn, whats a guy to do huh, Hey Paul, next rounds on me for these guys OK? Now I know why it's so fun!
So they aren't getting in until around 7:30 and we have reservations at Steves (steakhouse) at 8:30 and we have 2 girls with us, can we do it?
They arrived, got ready and we were at Steves by 8:20 we got the most amazing table by the window, in the corner I couldn't believe it, it was so nice. We ordered food and wine and appetizers and all, everything was great and perfect and HOLY SHIT A YACHT IS ON FRIGGIN FIRE!!!!:eek:
Flames were jumping 65' into the air off this 50'+ yacht and then there was 1 explosion that sent a fireball way into the sky! Word trickled down in the next 20 minutes that all had escaped without injuries though, the yacht was a basket case though.
After that we were all full and buzzed, me especially thanks to Paul's concoction of Pacifico and ketel one citron:D So we went to the karaoke joint to see some really bad talent then went home to Catherine.
The next few hours are off the record.
I will post SAT and SUN stuff in the AM and you can see pics from all of this in my image center since I cant seem to get them in here myself.
Kenny
Some of you were up on Thursday night when i was posting 2 hours til I am out of here and so on, well I didn't get any sleep and wound up leaving a little late actually.
So 7 hours later I get to Newport to Lido Dry Stack where I find out you need to be a member which I am presently not:mad:
The guy there sends me to his buddy next door and he doesn't want to deal with it either so by this time I am getting pissed cuz I know the chop is kicking up and I still don't have a mooring lined up.
I find a place off of Jamborree call Becks Bay / The Dunes finally and don't get me wrong it's a nice place but it's a 35 minute putter to the jetties from there plus the good ole trailer had to go for a dunk:mad:
So i launch and I rinse and I putter to the jetties, A guy had given me a bearing of 222 and as I puttered out I tried to get my bearing on my GPS/VHF also.
So i get into the breakwater and get going and all I can really get is around 35 before I am getting to high of air, I estimate these were around 3.5' swells so it was slow goin but at least I was going, its 2pm by this time.
So as I am continually following course 222 I see large vessals and cranes and my stomach sank, I knew something was very wrong here. I stopped and pulled out my chart and sure as shit I was in the middle of San Pedro and Long Beach:eek!: :eek!: WTF:mad:
The nut tard that gave me the course gave me the wrong heading and I was wrong for not double checking before getting underway, so at this point it is 2:30 pm and it's getting rougher and a lil bit of self doubt is creeping into the back of my head, maybe I was a lil cocky going out here all alone with no sea experience other than advice from internet friends and a retired USCG neighbor, I looked back at the shore to Long Beach and then out to the South West and I only had 2 choices, pack it in and follow the coast back to Newport or dig my way out of this hole. I'm former Army, I started diggin'.
I pulled out the chart and oriented by bow with true north and shot an azimuth to the furthest point off San Pedro and did the same with the most direct Eastern point on Long Beach, then I shot a reverse azimuth to Catalina and I came up with 180. And so with NOTHING but blue water and near 4.5' swells looking at me I hit it, now I didnt mention it but this whole time I am wearing my Neoprene PFD with my flare gun and GPS/VHF attached to it, I did feel safe, if i had flipped the boat for some reason I would have been fine I think the only reason I would freak is if it sank and I am just sitting there bobbing in the ocean, I would feel to much like uhhhhh food.
So by now I am getting the SHIT knocked out of me and it's this way slow or fast so I amgoing 20-25 so I can just get this over with, by now I have been on the water for 3 hours and I am only a lil more then slightly confident that I am heading in the correct direction. And then all of the sudden as I look over my right shoulder and see a gigantic jet powered ferry a half mile off starboard a feeling of joy and heartbreak came over me, I was happy that he was on the same course as me, my math had worked and I had bailed my own ass out of the spot that I was in and a lil bummed because instead of showing up just out of blue I would be a follower now.
So at about 4:45pm a very wet and very tired Kachina Ken puttered into Avalon Harbor....
I was greeted by the harbormaster boat and to my surprise he did have a mooring for me W-13 in the outer harbor, i don't know why they call it the outer harbor because it is not really outer, just a lil bit to the side, I actually like it more because descando beach is right there along with kick ass snorkling and an awesome cabana bar.
So I putter over to my mooring, i forgot to tell you they originally gave me W-12 but it had moved to close to this German guys skiff so they moved me over 1 to W-13 I tied up using some techniques that Bob (Nordic Bob over at RRX) had told me, I am somewhat of a rigger myself due to my job description, if you go to a concert you will notice that us lighting folk can suspend a whole flying junkyard over your heads and it manages to stay there somehow, thats because of the rigging we do. Well I thought it would be a good idea to bring some 5/8 galvenized shackles and a couple of 8 foot spansets, I used the shackles so there was no way the knot could come undone no mater what happened but didn't need the spansets. so after all was put away I called the shoreboat on the radio and they came for me.
When i hit the dock it was a 3 minute walk to the catherine hotel, the manager Paul wasn't there and he had left an envelope with a key in it for me since he was out to dinner. I walked up the back of the hotel, took a shower and went to sleep for 13 hours.
Friday morning, time to party? nope , breakfast. Went to the pancake cottage and I was amazed at how fast they got orders out, the place was packed and the only reason i got a seat was because I was on my own still (the girls and Mikey weren't coming in until 5) so after some really good conversation with some locals I figured I should go back to the room and make a few call and check in my other room for my guests, by then it's about noon and Kenny wants a cocktail!
"Go to the Marlin" someone on ***boat said, so i did. It's a locals joint mainly, I talked with the bartender a lil but he was to busy stuffing a big mac down his throat to really talk to much, didn't really understand what Hot Boat meant or was about so I decided to save my breath and kill a couple more pacificos. A couple minutes later this gaggle of girls come in and sit next to me, it's party time for them because they are doing shots and being well, girls. One comes up to me and wants to know if I'm single cuz she has a friend who is newly divorced and really cute etc etc... and i tell yes single, no thanks I'm with someone this weekend and hey if we see ya out tonight lets have a drink. All this is happening while another one is playing pelvic basketball (it's kinda hard to explain).
So around 1;30pm after about 3 errr, 4 Pacificos I taxi back to the Dalmation to check on her from the night before, it's a lil hot so I put on my snorkle mask and fins and go down for a hull inspection, I do have some nasty gouges right on the line that will need to be fixed this winter, i know they gotta be causing serious drag, maybe that is where the missing 2 mph is? I can't get over how clear the water around the moorings is there are small kelp beds and fish all over the place.
3pm better get back and shower up, the girls are coming oh yeah and my buddy Mikey:D .
Get back to the room and shower up and realize my buzz is not what it used to be so I go down to the lobby bar to find Paul tending the bar. 'I thought you were the manager" I am he says, "you gotta tend the bar too?" it's a beautiful life ain't it!
He has an old yes album jammin and he has cooked up some badass ziti that is right on time, I'm tellin ya the beer is 33 degrees there soooo f'in good and cold, I was in heaven.
So it seems there are loads of affluent folk around these parts as evidenced by me not being able to pay for a beer on my own, I've been in here for 30min and had 2 rounds bought for me by these really nice folks, one of them was named Tom, find out later he's like a billionaire or something, could care less , he was a really cool guy who bought me a beer, if thats all I ever knew of him he would still go into the ole memory banks as a cool dude.
So i get the call at around 4:30 that the girls aren't going to make the ferry so they gotta take the next one. Damn, whats a guy to do huh, Hey Paul, next rounds on me for these guys OK? Now I know why it's so fun!
So they aren't getting in until around 7:30 and we have reservations at Steves (steakhouse) at 8:30 and we have 2 girls with us, can we do it?
They arrived, got ready and we were at Steves by 8:20 we got the most amazing table by the window, in the corner I couldn't believe it, it was so nice. We ordered food and wine and appetizers and all, everything was great and perfect and HOLY SHIT A YACHT IS ON FRIGGIN FIRE!!!!:eek:
Flames were jumping 65' into the air off this 50'+ yacht and then there was 1 explosion that sent a fireball way into the sky! Word trickled down in the next 20 minutes that all had escaped without injuries though, the yacht was a basket case though.
After that we were all full and buzzed, me especially thanks to Paul's concoction of Pacifico and ketel one citron:D So we went to the karaoke joint to see some really bad talent then went home to Catherine.
The next few hours are off the record.
I will post SAT and SUN stuff in the AM and you can see pics from all of this in my image center since I cant seem to get them in here myself.
Kenny